International Resources

The WHO is an international portal for resources and data that address the health of nations across the globe. The Data and Statistics page covers substance use by these sub-topics: alcohol, tobacco and substance use disorders. Data is provided trough the Global Information System on Alcohol and Health (GISAH) and can be downloaded as .CSV, .XLS, .HTML and .XML files. Visualizations and maps of some of this data are also available.

Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union with a focus on processing and publishing data collected by Member States. The most relevant data sets can be found in the Health sub-section of "Population and social conditions". Look for variables about drugs, tobacco and alcohol use in relation to disabilities and deaths.


Data.gc.ca is an initiative of the Canadian government to make data transparent and more easily accessible. Data sets are typically available as XML-based files. Some are XLS-based and can be read by spreadsheet software. When searching, focus on specific substances of interest, like alcohol or tobacco. 


CCSA is a government agency in Canada that partners with other organizations to address issues related to substance use and abuse. The focus is on alcohol, marijuana, and prescription drugs, with a particular interest on trends, mental health, and youth. The Resources section of this website features publications on these topics and contain statistics relevant to substance use researchers.

The United Nations maintains a list of central data repositories for each country. Use this list to locate a repository for a specific country of interest. These repositories may cover a wide-range of topics and each will address substance use issues in different ways and varying depths. Note: the websites will typically be written in the national language and some will offer an English translation.